Fair Bargain
by lies-d
Summary: Imprisoned in a cell in Jotunheim, Loki endures the guards' nightly assault while he scheming to free himself and his badly injured brother. Warning: N/C, mpreg


A/N: Here they are, for your amusement, the sick fruits of my depraved mind. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>It was nearly pitch black in their cell, but Loki was sure he could see the a glint of amusement in the guards' eyes when they came to take Loki away. Thor put up as much a fight as he could, but he could barely stand for his, broken, bloodied leg. They tore Loki from his brother's grip and dragged him out of the cell, past a long hall, and down a deep flight of steps.<p>

They brought him to a small room. There was more light, and three more guards. They too looked amused, and there was no mistaking the chuckle Loki heard from one of them.

Loki soon found out what the joke was. They never intended to question him at all. Instead, they pushed him face down over the room's lone table, pulled his clothes away, and started raping him.

The pain was so great, Loki couldn't even scream. His entire body tensed, and only a few strangled noises escaped his open mouth. He felt _coldness _as he never had before, deep inside him, freezing him solid from the inside out. Loki was sure he would die, and almost welcomed it except for the horrible, fleeting thought of his brother being trapped alone.

But Loki didn't die. As the cold enveloped him to his fingertips, it took his pain away. Fear overtook his senses like a flash freeze, but once it subsided he realized he was still breathing, still living. He could feel the icy table beneath his cheek and his fingers, could feel his legs hanging over the end of it, unable to reach the ground. He could feel the guard's hand on his back, holding him down as securely as Mjolnir, and he could feel his huge cock moving in and out of him.

One of the other guards took him by the hair and lifted his head up. Loki opened his eyes. Everything looked so different. Black was no longer dark, and blue held a thousand different shades.

"What magic is this?" Said the guard, looking at his face. Loki saw own his hands, clawing for purchase on the table. They were blue - his skin was blue, as though he were Jotun. _He _hadn't made them so. His own magic was bound by the iron circlets on his wrists, carved with powerful runes.

"Clever magic," said the one behind him without missing a thrust. "It means he will live, but it also means we will all get our turn."

The other guard smiled. "You're right. A fair bargain. Well done, little one."

The one behind Loki soon finished with a groan, and moved out of the way for his friend. The seed spilled inside Loki made him slick, and the second guard's cock slid inside him smoothly. As the night wore on and they each took a turn fucking Loki, and their copious seed was soon dripping out of him onto the floor below.

The fifth and last one apparently had no desire to rut in the same hole his comrades had so recently used. He took Loki from the table and put him on his knees in front of him, pulling out his erect cock.

"Pleasure me with your mouth," the guard ordered sternly. "If you bite I'll make you watch while I put it in your brother."

The guard's cock was so huge he could only fit the head of it in his mouth, but Loki obeyed as best he could, sucking and licking and teasing drops of seed from the slit with his clever tongue. This guard's cock looked no bigger than the others, and Loki wondered how he had survived being mounted by them all without being torn apart. He had to use both of his hands to work the shaft. The guard carded his fingers through Loki's hair, but thankfully restrained himself to shallow thrusts that didn't make it past Loki's throat. He came even sooner than the others, spurting salty-sweet seed into Loki's mouth and holding himself there until Loki had swallowed all of it.

When the guard let him go, Loki collapsed to the ground, coughing. He back of his throat felt bruised, but he didn't retch and the seed stayed down. He fervently hoped it was over - that none of them wanted a second turn.

The last guard chuckled and tucked himself away. "Well done indeed."

They all seemed rather sated, and none moved to rape him again. Loki gathered himself up. His trousers were still intact, and the drops of seed on them had frozen and could be brushed away easily. His flesh, however, was still slick where they had spilled, and he desperately wished not to have to return to his cell covered in the evidence of what had happened here.

"Could I have a cloth?" He inquired. One guard looked to another, who shrugged mildly.

Loki was given a cloth and allowed to clean himself before being led back to his cell.

Thor was sleeping, and feverish. Loki could feel the heat radiating from him as soon as he stepped into the cell. As Loki approached and knelt before his brother, the cold seeped out of his flesh, leaving only what felt like a protective sheath of ice around his heart.

He couldn't tell what he felt about what had just happened. He was alive, and dimly glad of it. He didn't know _why _he yet lived, what strange magic had transformed him so, and he didn't know how to feel about that either.

Thor stirred from his fever sleep. "Brother," he murmured drowsily, reaching out for Loki. The ice around his heart cracked. Loki crawled into Thor's arms, wrapping them around himself in a way he had not done since they were both small children.

* * *

><p>It was bitter for Loki to know that he held some blame for their captivity. When he'd opened a rift for Laufey's men to enter Asgard, he hadn't ever guessed they would actually succeed in stealing the Casket of Ancient Winters. Thor had stormed straight to the bifrost, to make a surgical strike before Laufey could close their realm to Asgard's incursion. In his haste, he had gathered no others, so Loki had no choice but to go with him.<p>

But they had failed.

Asgard would come to rescue them, but it may take years for them to breach the realm, now that Laufey had the Casket back and the power to shield Jotunheim from the bifrost. Loki shuddered with fear to think of how long they might have to endure this imprisonment.

* * *

><p>The next night the guards came for Thor.<p>

"No! _No!" _Loki cried out in protest for his brother where he'd been unable to for himself. "_Don't!_"

The leading guard shoved him away to advance on Thor, lying against the far wall.

"Take me! _Take me!"_ Loki scrambled to put himself in the guard's way. When he put a hand to the guard's chest, his entire arm turned blue. The cold began to envelop him again. "I'll do anything you ask," Loki promised. "Please."

Thor was delirious, his wound festering. Loki hoped he'd neither seen his skin nor heard his words, but if he had it couldn't be helped.

The guards looked at each other. One nodded towards Loki. The other smiled wickedly in agreement.

They took him again that night. Took him again, and again, and again. The cold spread easily and it didn't hurt. True to his word, he did whatever they asked. Spread his legs as far as they wanted, moved in whatever way they wanted.

"Clench - make yourself tighter for me," one guard asked. So Loki did, drawing the seed from his cock as easily as he drew helpless groans of pleasure from his throat.

The only one who still held him down was the one who enjoyed doing so, pinning his hands to the table while he pounded into him with thrusts that Loki thought he could feel at the back of his teeth.

When it was all over, a new cloth was found for Loki to wipe himself with. Loki took it and said, "My brother will die without a healer. Could you please get one for him?"

One guard snorted in derision while another chuckled at him. The other three didn't seem to notice his request.

* * *

><p>In the morning a healer came to bind Thor's wound and give him a strange-smelling draught. Loki held him while he fell into a deep sleep, grateful when he stopped muttering about Father and Midgard.<p>

Thor healed slowly and the guards never bothered him again. It was Loki they came for, night after night.

Loki followed them down the stairs, into the room where he was to service them. He took off his clothes and piled them neatly in a corner while they diced to find out who would be allowed to take him first.

With each coupling he gained further instruction on how to please them, and he quickly became quite good at it. They had carved out a small nook in the ice at one end of the room where they could take him with a small amount of privacy, whispering their desires in his ear, showing him what to do. Every once in awhile he was still fucked over the table, loudly and roughly while the others watched. Every once in awhile they invited a friend or two to join in.

They were a huge and lusty lot, and Loki provided them with much pleasure. His flesh took them in without a rip, scratch or a bruise, despite how large and strong they were. It was as though he were made for such defilement.

Every night he was returned to his cell thoroughly used, and every night his brother chased away the blue from his skin and the cold from his heart. As Loki lay beside Thor, listening to him breathe, he knew he would go on paying whatever price was necessary for that breath could continue.

* * *

><p>"Are you fertile, little one?" Asked one of the guards as Loki rode his lap, grinding up and down on his cock. This one seemed to like him, or like the look of him anyways. As they coupled he loved to touch Loki all over, feeling the muscles of his shoulders and the smooth skin of his back, flicking his nipples every once in awhile and running his fingers through Loki's hair. To Loki's shame this usually made him hard, but Loki never came for the guard. He didn't want to give him the satisfaction.<p>

"I don't know," Loki replied honestly. He knew Jotuns were capable of bearing children as well as siring them. "If I am a Jotun it is possible." He said it calmly, but the implication terrified him.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if you bore us a child?"

The guard started to roll his hips up, forcing his thrusts deeper in a way that Loki knew meant he was nearing to his climax.

"No... I don't want to bear any children." A shiver of blind panic crept up Loki's spine at the thought, and he struggled to try and get away. "Please, don't spill in me."

But the guard wouldn't let him up. As Loki wriggled to get free, he took him firmly by the hips, lifting him up and down on his cock himself. Loki clawed uselessly at his hands, but didn't even manage to budge a finger. The guard finally came with a deep groan. Loki's eyes prickled with tears as he felt the guard's cock pulsing, spurting seed deep inside of him.

"That was good. You should struggle more often," the guard told him, heavy-lidded. Loki dug his fingernails into the guard's skin, anger chasing the tears from his eyes.

"Ah, don't be cross with me, little one" said the guard. "If you are fertile, a few more drops or less aren't going to make a difference."

Loki was all the more angry for knowing it was true. Three others had taken him tonight before this one. His thighs were slick with their spill. He had yet one more to service tonight, and that one never asked for his mouth.

"Besides, if you don't believe you're fertile, you're probably not," added the guard.

"How do you know if you're fertile?" asked Loki.

"You know." Said the guard unhelpfully.

"Is there any way to prevent conception?" Loki asked a second question.

The guard chuckled and shook his head. "Better to try preventing the tide," he replied.

* * *

><p>A sliver of moon crested high over the mountains in the narrow view of their cell when Loki felt a change in him.<p>

Thor was sleeping through another healing drought when the guards came to collect their nightly due. Loki had finally persuaded the guards to give them a blanket, and he lay nestled in Thor's arms bundled in its thick fur, watching the moonlight creep across the stone floor.

He didn't want to leave the safety of his brother's arms. He hid there, staring at the guards until they actually came into the cell to drag him away. He knew the worst they had to offer, but somehow tonight he was afraid.

The victor of the dice meant to start on the table. He lifted Loki up and bent him face down. The icy coldness of the table spread up through his body, numbing him to pain.

The guard put his member to Loki's entrance and pushed himself inside inch by inch. Loki arched up off the table and cried out, not in pain but in pleasure. Something inside him had changed. Utterly bewildered, he could do no more than moan and writhe when the guard began to fuck him in earnest, so great was Loki's pleasure at feeling his hard cock inside of him. Every thrust was _delicious._

The guards looked at each other, unsure if this new enthusiasm was real or feigned for their enjoyment. Loki was trying desperately to contain the obscene mewling coming from his mouth, but he could no more stop it than he could stop the terrible, unwanted, all-consuming pleasure the guard's touch brought him, deep in his flesh.

Loki brought his hands to his mouth to cover a scream as his climax overtook him. It felt like the inverse of release - like a gathering in, instead of a letting go. His body clenched like a vise around the guard, who groaned and promptly came. Loki could feel every pulse of seed as it surged deep into his body.

The guard withdrew, panting. Usually taking Loki in front of everyone was meant as a show of stamina, but this time he'd finished with embarrassing speed. Loki dimly wondered if he'd be upset to be shamed so in front of his friends.

"He is fertile," the guard announced. The others murmured their approval.

Loki could have wept, but another guard soon carried him to their nook and put his cock inside of him, making him forget everything but the pleasure of being filled.

He was passed around gently, almost reverently. For the first time they took a care for his pleasure, asking him what he preferred, touching him in ways meant to arouse. Loki enjoyed everything, every moment. His body sung with pleasure.

When they had all had a turn, the first one gathered him close and stroked himself until he was hard enough to put it inside Loki again. None had ever taken him twice before. This night they all followed suite, making an effort to fill him with as much seed as possible.

As the night looked to be approaching its end, one of the guards approached Loki with small stone bowl. Loki was riding one of his comrades, leaning back against his torso while he lifted himself up and down over his cock.

"This is new fallen snow from the peak of a mountain," said the guard, newly returned to the room. "You should eat it every day, to make your child strong." He pinched a small mound between his fingers and brought it to Loki's mouth. It was the most exquisite thing he'd ever tasted. The guard fed it all to him by hand, and Loki licked his fingers for the last morsels.

"Hold still for a moment," requested the guard, setting the bowl aside. Loki stilled, and gasped when the guard took his erect cock in his mouth. Though Loki had been touched and fondled, he hadn't yet spilled. With his tongue the guard sought to drag his seed out, and in almost no time succeeded. Loki arched back against the guard inside of him, who held his hand as Loki was ravaged by the ecstasy of release both inside and out. Loki was sure his cries would carry to the highest towers of Laufey's stronghold. One last gush of hot fluid filled him as the guard's completion followed on the heels of his own.

When it was over he lay shuddering and panting against his ersatz lover's chest.

"It seems you've exhausted us, little one," commented the guard who had sucked him, stroking Loki's hair from his sweat-soaked brow. "Would you like us to bring our other friends?"

Breathless and limp, his throat sore from pleasure-sounds, Loki nodded.

* * *

><p>They led him back to his cell naked, for his clothed were soaked with fluids wiped from his skin. He was still shivering with lust. Though he had had every drop of seed they could give him, it wasn't enough. He was still cold, and felt so <em>so <em>empty.

Loki sank to his knees beside Thor, still covered in furs and sleeping. Usually being so near to his brother caused the cold to retreat, but now it clung to him as though bruised into his flesh by the guards' touch. Afraid to reach out and touch Thor lest he burn his skin with frost, Loki wrapped his arms tightly around himself and stayed curled on the floor nearby.

Thor was awakened by Loki's ragged breathing. He stared at Loki, dazed from sleep and shock. "Brother...?" he said.

"I'm not your brother," rasped Loki.

Unwilling to accept this, Thor studied his face carefully. "Loki... brother..."

Loki shook his head vehemently. "It makes sense now. So many things. The way I am, the things I've felt, for so long. I'm not your brother. I'm... this." He held his hands out. They were blue, marked with the long dark lines of the Jotun people.

Reaching out before Loki could pull away, Thor took his hands. Loki gasped, certain that he would burn Thor, but it was Thor who burned him instead. There, finally - he was turning back. The cold was retreating, if but slowly, from where Thor touched him. Thor reached up to cup his cheek. Loki closed his eyes to feel it, to feel himself thawing everywhere. He drew a long breath, and by the time he exhaled even his breath was warm.

"You are Loki, my brother. No matter what else has happened, no matter what else you are," Thor told him.

Loki shook his head once again. Still, _still _he knew this couldn't be true. "Would your brother do this?" He replied, and leaning forward pressed himself to Thor, kissing him deeply and on the mouth.

Thor pushed him away and stared at him in shock. Loki laughed for the first time in what felt like ages, though he felt on the verge of crying. "I've wanted to do that for so long, _brother_. You have no idea."

The silly look of surprise on Thor's face amused and saddened him so much, Loki sought to erase it with another kiss. Deeper. Longer. This time Thor didn't shove him away, so Loki pressed in further, pushing Thor down, pinning him to the floor with kisses as he shamelessly ground his body against him. Wishing to see how far he could go before Thor would break and throw him off, Loki reached down to fondle his manhood.

Now it was Loki's turn to be surprised. Thor was hard as rock. Loki drew back from their kiss to look Thor in the eye. The lust there was unmistakeable.

"Do you truly want this, Loki?" Thor asked huskily.

"Yes," Loki whispered. "Oh yes."

"We'll still be brothers," insisted Thor.

Loki nodded to placate him. "If so, we mustn't ever tell Mother or Father," he said while he start undoing the lacings of Thor's pants.

Once Thor was as naked as Loki, they lay down front to back with Thor's arms around Loki in almost exactly the same manner they'd been sleeping since they'd arrived. They even pulled the fur over themselves to keep warm.

Then Loki reached behind himself and guided Thor's cock to his hole. He was still slick inside, and Thor pushed into him with ease.

Loki shuddered and moaned. He was still gripped by this strange Jotun fertility heat - every touch inside of him was glorious. His brother's member was so warm. It wasn't nearly the size of the others that had breached him tonight, but incredibly Loki could feel it even more.

Thor's wound prevented him from exerting himself too much, but they rocked against each other slowly, savouring every thrust.

"Yes, yes, yes, _yes_..." Loki chanted over and over. A _yes _for every _no_ he had wanted to say to the guards, but couldn't. _This _is what he wanted.

Thor reached over to pleasure Loki with his hand. Loki brought the fur up to press against his mouth, muffling his cries as he came with such ferocity that Thor couldn't help but come as well. Even his _seed _was warm inside Loki, and he finally sensed that he was truly full. If Loki was to bear a child, he fervently hoped it was Thor and only Thor whose seed would find purchase in him.

* * *

><p>When Loki awoke the heat had passed. He lay naked in Thor's arms, and could feel his brother's cock pressed against his thigh, half-hard but undemanding. The events of the previous night were a dim fog. Loki was vaguely confused as to why he and his brother lay naked together.<p>

Loki leaned back to look at Thor. Their cell was dim, but what sunshine there was made his skin glow as though he were drinking it in. He always looked so brilliant in the sunshine. Even his hair smelled of it.

Thor opened his eyes. He smiled. "Loki." He leaned up to kiss his brother softly on the lips.

Loki remembered in a flash everything they had done. His cheeks burned scarlet.

Thor drew back, sadness in his eyes. "Do you regret what we did, Loki?" He asked gently.

Looking down, Loki took a moment to measure his heart.

"No," Loki replied honestly. He reached out to touch Thor's chest. It was strange, to see him naked so. They were brothers, and would always be brothers. But he remembered the pleasure he had taken from feeling that sun-kissed skin all over him, and remembered how he'd been able to express things last night he thought would be forever buried within him. "No, I don't regret it," Loki repeated.

* * *

><p>Loki was dully surprised when the guards came to fetch him to their room that night. He was sure they would be exhausted as he was. When he arrived, they were dicing as usual. Loki didn't know how they could carry on as though nothing had changed.<p>

"Are you still in heat?" One of the guards asked.

"No," Loki replied.

"We shall have to check and make sure," said another guard, reaching for the laces of Loki's tunic.

Loki drew back. "Get your hand off me," he hissed.

The guard was so surprised that he obeyed without question. The others didn't seem to care. Maybe they i_were/i_ tired.

"I want to join this game," Loki announced.

One guard raised an eyebrow. "Do you know how to play?" He asked.

"Well enough." Loki had learned by watching them every night. It wasn't exactly complicated.

There were no extra chairs, so Loki sat cross-legged on one of the corners of the table. Gathering the dice into his hands, he said, "If I win, you will let me speak to King Laufey."

His imperious tone drew some amused smiles. "You have nothing to give if you lose, nothing we can't take anyways," pointed out one of the guards.

"It's true, you can have me whether I win or lose. That is no matter to me. But soon enough I will bear a child conceived in this room. If... if it doesn't kill me, I will care for it. So I think you owe me." He spilled the dice from one hand to another, then back again. "It's only a chance, and a distant one at that."

The guards looked at each other. As far as Loki could tell, they didn't have a leader, and they never quarrelled or debated. The first to decide anything would speak for the group.

The first to speak granted Loki his chance.

"You should know that King Laufey cares not what we do to prisoners, so long as they are kept alive," warned a guard. "If that is why you'd like to speak to him, you will find little sympathy."

Loki shrugged. "Why would I complain about your hospitality when you've shown me so much kindness?"

They all laughed heartily at that. Even Loki joined in.

The first time Loki cheated, they accepted his claim of not knowing the rules. The second time he cheated, they didn't notice.

Loki won.

* * *

><p>They brought Thor his healing drought in the morning. For the first time Thor balked at drinking it. By now Loki was certain it was drugged to make him sleep - he wondered if finally Thor suspected the same.<p>

"Go on, you're not healed yet. Just one last time," Loki convinced him.

Sure enough, Thor dropped off into a deep slumber soon after taking the bitter brew.

_It's better this way_, Loki thought. If Thor tried to fight the guards, they would break his other leg for him.

The guards had given him new clothes to replace his spill-soaked tunic and trousers. There was a wrap for his waist - little more than a loincloth, the kind most Jotuns wore - and a long leather cloak. He put them on to go meet King Laufey.

Once Loki stood before the king, he drew the cold inside him from the soles of his feet and the air in his breath. He no longer even needed to be touched.

If King Laufey was surprised at Loki's transformation, his face gave no sign.

"I'd like to propose a trade," said Loki. Laufey remained silent, so Loki continued. "If you let my brother return to Asgard, I will consent to stay. Of my own free will I would serve in your court with my magic, and in your bed with my flesh. Or, in the bed of whosoever you deem fit." He didn't believe the Jotuns had any concept of a bed slave. The guards had told him that other Jotuns didn't bend for each other so easily, and they certainly didn't marry. Pleasures of the flesh were usually rare and hard-won. Though apparently prisoners in captivity could be used in that capacity, Loki doubted any had survived it very long. So, Loki hoped the novelty of his offer would appeal to the king, or to any of his advisors who could influence him to accept.

"My only conditions are that I be allowed to keep any children that I bear, and that they be given a chance to earn places of honour here in your realm."

King Laufey stared at him impassively. What impact Loki's offer had on him, if any, Loki couldn't tell. His face was as implacable as ice.

"Asgard will be spoiling for war. Give Thor back, and you will prevent it. Keep me and you can save face. With the Casket of Ancient Winters, Jotunheim will flourish again." _And be a fit home for my children,_ Loki thought. It was the best he could hope for.

"Are you not a son of Odin? Would he not make war for you?" Laufey spoke for the first time.

Loki held up his hand. "This is no illusion of mine, and no curse of another's making. I am no Odinson. And he has ever disapproved of me." It stung him to add this, though all of Asgard knew it. Loki had no idea why his 'father' would take a Jotun child into his house can call him a brother to Thor. Perhaps he thought Loki would grow as great and tall as his kin, and be a loyal bodyguard for Thor. His failing this would have been a galling disappointment indeed. Loki tried to put such thoughts from his mind. They whys and hows were no matter to him now. That was his old life. This was to be his new, if Laufey agreed. "Tell him it was I who betrayed Asgard, and helped you steal the Casket. He will make no war on my behalf."

But King Laufey gave no indication of being moved by his argument. He simply stared, as though waiting for more.

"I may be no Odinson, but I could still have value to you. I am skilled at giving pleasure. Your guards can attest to it." Loki untied his cloak and let it slip to the floor. His wrap hid little. He would let the King assess his body. "And I can bear children who may inherit my sorcery. I understand this is a rare trait, in Jotunheim."

"It is," replied King Laufey as his gaze travelled from Loki's torso to his stomach, to his legs and up again.

"Would you like to see my back?" Asked Loki.

After a long moment, Laufey replied, "Yes."

Loki turned around. When he felt Laufey would surely have had enough time to study him, he turned back.

King Laufey's face betrayed nothing.

"_Leave us._" the king ordered in a voice that boomed through the enormous room, shaking Loki's very bones.

So the king wished to try his services promptly. _Good,_ thought Loki. As soon as he could bring him completion, the deal would be as good as done.

The guards left. The waiting chieftains left. Even the high shadows lurking in watch from nearby towers left. Loki tried hard to banish all thoughts of home along with them. There would be no going back now.

When they were completely alone, King Laufey rose.

"Do you know how you came to have the lines of my House?" Asked Laufey.

"No... I never knew." The guards had seen him everywhere. What is it they'd seen?

"The last child of winter born with magic in the last thousand years was my son. My firstborn son, left in the Temple of Ice during the war with Asgard, and lost before his name day." The great king stepped forward and knelt, _knelt_, in front of Loki, wrapping him in a royal cloak from his throne.

"I believe you are he, for I traced those lines in your flesh myself. Others wouldn't know them, but I do as surely as I know my own."

Loki knew not what to say, this was so far beyond his plan. He spoke of the first thing that came to his mind, his first and foremost goal. "If I am your son, could I please request that you send my brother... that you send Thor Odinson back to his kin? He will surely die here if you don't."

Laufey nodded slowly. "If that is your wish."

Good. That was good. So why was Loki's heart beginning to ache so? He looked on the face of the one who bore him, his true father, beloved when all he knew was how to love. He had missed him, without even knowing it, and now felt the sadness of every year they'd been separated, like a terrible chasm in his heart.

"Will you stay?" asked Laufey.

Loki had thought of nothing else but staying since his heat had passed. But something in Laufey's eyes drew the truth from his lips, the naked fragile hope he dared not reveal to anyone before now.

"Father... I want to go home to Asgard." Loki knew not how to explain himself, to say what it meant to him, to have his true family back, and to know that he had been born here, of this great House. But Laufey needed no such placation.

"I understand," Laufey said gently. "So it shall be."

* * *

><p>They spoke of many things, and as Loki travelled in Thor's arms on the bifrost, he felt his true father's words had etched themselves on his soul as surely as his lines were etched on his skin. He would never feel unloved again.<p>

With Thor's attentions now, this would be doubly so.

* * *

><p>Odin accepted Laufey's peace for his son's sake.<p>

In a season's time, just as Thor fully healed, it became apparent that Loki was with child.

Thor was ecstatic, and at Loki's request brought him new fallen snow from the mountain peaks every single day. It was still more delicious than any other food he could find on Asgard.

It seemed to Loki that Thor had learned some humility during his confinement. He hoped it would make him a better king than he would have been before, since Loki had no wish to play such a costly trick on him again. Loki himself felt changed in ways immeasurable.

When they explained the pregnancy to Odin and Frigga they were told the truth - that Loki was a Jotun foundling. Neither was surprised by now, of course.

"Father gave me permission to marry you, if you consent to let the truth of your parentage be announced," said Thor, nuzzling the light swell of Loki's stomach.

"Then we wouldn't be brothers anymore," replied Loki.

"We'll always be brothers," assured Thor. He smiled innocently as his hand travelled down, down towards the sweet opening that had formed between Loki's legs.

"Yes, oh yes," was Loki's response, as ever when Thor touched him.

* * *

><p>The child was born with blue skin and red eyes. When Thor held him close for the first time, his skin thawed and his eyes turned green. He had no hair, and looked exactly as Loki had looked as an infant.<p>

Loki and Thor were yet unmarried. Loki had been waiting to give his answer - waiting for evidence one way or another, which sadly had failed to appear. Loki supposed it might have been too much to hope he would be born with blonde hair or blue eyes.

"There is a chance the child may not be yours," Loki confessed to Thor, his heart heavy. He treasured his son already, and if Thor sought to expel him from Asgard for being some Jotun's get, Loki would go into exile with him.

"I know," said Thor calmly. This surprised Loki. "You seemed so upset that one night. I have an idea of what you bargained, to see King Laufey and gain our return."

Loki wasn't sure he had any real idea. That was between himself, his father, and the guards who lay executed and entombed in their room of ice.

Thor's gaze on the infant in his arms was soft with wonder. "It matters not," said Thor. "This child will be loved." He kissed it tenderly on the forehead.

And when the child grew, he could either take a place in line as heir to the throne of Asgard, or travel to Jotunheim and become the heir to that throne, as Laufey had promised. _Would that all choices be so fine,_ thought Loki.

"And, if his mother is willing, this child will have siblings," Thor said with a teasing smile towards Loki.

Loki felt uncomplicated joy blossom in his heart for the first time since his ordeal. This had an answer he could give without reservation.

"_Yes._"

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Made it through? If you liked this story, please let me know what you liked. Feedback makes me <em>so so <em>happy.


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